Mirror or no mirror? Architectural design of cross-border integration of Chinese multinational enterprises

Jiang Wei (), Yang Yang () and Sali Li ()
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Jiang Wei: Zhejiang University
Yang Yang: Zhejiang University
Sali Li: University of South Carolina

Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 2021, vol. 38, issue 4, No 9, 1399-1430

Abstract: Abstract With the increase in overseas acquisitions by Chinese multinational enterprises (CMNEs), corporations face the challenge of designing and building global architecture to enhance their performance in post-acquisition integration. A well-known design rule that CMNEs could follow is the mirroring hypothesis. However, the effectiveness of this hypothesis in aligning a CMNE’s organizational structure with the underlying technical system after acquiring a new subsidiary remains unclear. Using a fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis to analyze 34 cross-border acquisitions by CMNEs, we clarify the boundary conditions of the mirroring hypothesis and identify four archetypes of design patterns, namely, modularized mirroring, integral mirroring, mirror breaking, and mirror misted-up. We also identify the respective performance implications of these archetypes on the post-acquisition integration of CMNEs. This study presents a comprehensive assessment of the mirroring hypothesis and contributes to the discussion on global architecture design by emerging multinational enterprises in general.

Keywords: Cross-border acquisitions; Chinese multinational enterprises; Mirroring hypothesis; Organizational design; Organizational identification; Fuzzy set methods (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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DOI: 10.1007/s10490-019-09699-5

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